UNFPA Zimbabwe launches ‘Not in my village’ campaign to combat teenage pregnancy and child marriages
By Dumisani Ndlovu
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is launching the “Not In My Village” campaign in Zimbabwe to tackle the pressing issues of teenage pregnancy and child marriages.
The campaign aims to protect young girls from HIV, prevent maternal deaths, and empower them to make informed reproductive health choices.
According to Abigail Msemburi, UNFPA’s country assistant representative, the organization is working on several key deliverables to achieve this goal. These include developing an adolescent youth health implementation plan, providing youth-friendly healthcare, and expanding access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.
“Not In My Village Campaign,” will be launched in the coming weeks to protect young girls from teenage pregnancies, child marriages and HIV,” she said adding that the pro- grammes to come up with community-driven solutions in tackling the critical issue of adolescent pregnancy.
The campaign will engage traditional leaders and key opinion figures as champions for positive change. With adolescent pregnancy rates alarmingly high in Zimbabwe, this campaign is a crucial step towards ensuring the health, well-being, and empowerment of young girls in the country.
Driven by the Young People’s Net- work on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, HIV and AIDS, the “Not in my village campaign” takes a unique approach by engaging traditional leaders and key opinion figures as champions for positive change. UNPFA, she said, is supporting the development of an adolescent youth health implementation plan; bolstering youth-friendly health- care; empowering young people in schools through comprehensive sexual education (CSE) at primary and secondary schools, and expanding access to SRHR information, and mentoring young entrepreneurs. Adolescent pregnancy rates are alarming, with around 355 000 girls aged 10-19 falling pregnant between 2019 and 2022. A staggering 25 per- cent of maternal deaths occur among adolescents, and the Adolescent Birth Rate stands at a concerning 108 per 1000, with projections indicating a further rise. The National Assessment on Adolescent Pregnancies which was conducted by the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare with support of UNICEF, UNESCO and UNFPA revealed that adolescent pregnancy rate in Zimbabwe is high. Nearly one in 10 adolescents give birth every year. About 50 percent of these pregnancies are unintended and a quarter of them result in illegal and unsafe abortions increasing the risk of childbirth complications and maternal mortality.
One in four maternal deaths in Zimbabwe are adolescents or young women (representing 25 percent of maternal deaths in Zimbabwe). In higher and tertiary education institutions, UNFPA is supporting social and behaviour change communication, condomise campaigns and access to other SRHR/HIV/ GBV services. In pursuit of ending the unmet need for family planning, Musemburi said the UNFPA is working on expanding choice and access to family planning information and services, with a particular emphasis on empowering women to make informed reproductive health choices. With regards to ending GBV, the UNFPA provides evidence-based advocacy to drive policy reform. She said efforts to reduce HIV infections in 2023 focused on targeted interventions for key populations and building a supportive environment that addresses structural barriers to care. Central to the approach was a strong emphasis on community engagement, leveraging peer educators and micro planners to reach men who have sex with men (MSM) com- munities. Innovative outreach strategies such as focusing on hotspot areas, social media and door-to-door campaigns were key to this outreach. The United Nations Population Fund, formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide
